Change of Venue

The venue is the location or court a criminal case will be heard. In criminal cases it is generally located near where the crime was committed. To request a change of venue a motion for change of venue must be filed, generally by the criminal lawyer. All requests for change of venue must be done through a pretrial motion within a specific time, generally before the case begins.

If you plead guilty you will not be allowed to request a motion to change venue. Change of venue requests are not guaranteed but may be allowed if there is too much pretrial publicity and the court decides you cannot get a fair trial, the court decides the current venue is not proper, or for the interest of justice, which can include travel costs, judicial expenditures, and location of witnesses or evidence. Talk to a criminal lawyer for more information about the rules and procedures and to help you select a venue which is best for your criminal case.